A Free Man

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by GGrass, May 9, 2011.

  1. A few months ago...

    --

    We were driving our way back from the temple on a Sunday. The kids were sleeping in the back seat.

    Suddenly I saw a dude on the side of the road, waving like he's trying to get a ride.

    The road was a main highway, and the cars were going way too fast. By the time I had spotted the guy, and thought about picking him up, we had passed him and he was already getting small in my rear view mirror.

    I said to my wife,

    "Did you see that guy?"

    "Yeah... I thought he looked like a white dude..."

    "I thought so too... should we go pick him up?"

    "It's up to you."

    So I turned around and went back to the spot, and thought to myself,

    'Who hitch-hikes these days?'

    The guy was still standing at the same spot. I pulled over to the side, and opened the window.

    "Do you need a ride?"

    "Yes..."

    "Then get in."

    "Thank you!"

    And he hurrily got in the car.

    "Where are you going?"

    "I'm trying to go to Kon Kaen (name of a city in Thailand)."

    And he showed me a map, which I easily recongnized. And he told me,

    "Thank you very much, but I cannot pay you coz I have no money."

    "Don't worry about it man. Just tell me, what are you doing exactly?"

    "Um... I'm... trying to hitch hike my way back to Russia."

    "Russia?! You kidding me?!"

    "Yes. Russia. St. Petersburg, to be exact. And no, I'm not kidding you... I've done this before... last year. And I loved the experience so much, I'm doing it again."

    And he told me his incredible journey...

    He arrived in Thailand by plane, which landed in the southern island of Phuket. From there, he planned to hitch hike his way back to St. Petersburg, crossing Thailand, Laos, and China.

    The distance to cover was 15,000 Kilometers. (about 10,000 miles)

    The time it took for him to finish his journey last time, was 3 months.

    And the most amazing thing about his journey was.... that it costed him only 200 US Dollars... And that's including the air ticket to Thailand... which was the most expensive part of his trip... On the road, he spent only 100 US Dollars for THREE months.

    I thought it was incredible...

    He said he never paid for places to sleep. He would just find a temple and sleep there, or if he was in a village, he would almost always be offered a place to spend the night by one of the local villagers.

    And if he really couldn't find a place to sleep, he just slept on the side of the road.

    Thailand is such a... nice country.

    People just let foreigners sleep in their houses... and give them food... and give them whatever they might need to continue on with their journeys.

    The people are kind here... but only because he's a white dude.

    If he was black, they wouldn't even give him a second look. But since it's the white man... they are so eager to help... coz they're so curious... and fucking racists.

    Anyway...

    I thought it was quite incredible, that a man can travel across the globe without spending any money, just because he was a white dude.

    If a black dude tried to do that, I don't think he'll make it.

    --

    I asked the guy,

    "What do you get out of all this?"

    And he said,

    "I get to feel the feeling of having nothing."

    --

    After about an hour of driving and talking, we got to a point, where I wanted to drop him off, because I thought it was a good spot for hitch hiking.

    We exchanged our email addresses, and said good byes. And before we left, I took a picture of the dude...

    And I decided to call him... a FREE MAN.

    -

    [​IMG]

    -

    I decided to call him a FREE MAN, not only because he was free like the wind, coming and going as he pleases, with nothing to tie him to the ground, but he was also a free man in a sense that he got everything for free.

    Free lodging... free food... free ride...

    And I thought... it sure is good to be a white dude.
     
  2. that was a great story. thanks for sharing with me! i always thought it would be nice to be homeless sometimes.

    i met a guy at my work who has hitchhiked across the united states. it would definately be an experience thats for sure!
     
  3. Holy shit, that's a great story man. + rep for a good read :smoke:
     
  4. I wonder if he hitch hikes back
     
  5. Nice! Make sure you keep in touch with that guy!
     
  6. The guy is from Russia and he's hitch hiking BACK to Russia.

    I got his FB account. Apparantly he checks his emails even when he's being a bum.

    An international bum. Yeah... That's what he is...
     
  7. how do you feel about beggers?
     
  8. How do I feel about beggers?

    Mixed emotions, I guess.

    Depends on the beggers...

    If they're like, professional ones, then I don't even look at them.

    But if they're legitimate ones, then yeah... feel for them.

    But I don't give money to beggers... unless they give me a very good reason to.
     
  9. I asked him,

    "Is it hard to get rides? Do people actually stop for you?"

    "It's not THAT difficult... If I'm in a remote areas, it's easy, but at crowded area, it could be quite difficult."

    --

    It's kind of funny because the more cars there are, the less chance he has... and the less cars there are, the better chance he has...

    --

    After I dropped him off, I drove on for about a mile and made a U-turn. In less than 5 minutes, I was back at the spot where I dropped him off, but on the other side of the road.

    And I looked to see how he was doing, and he was already getting on a new ride...

    I thought it was amazing.

    A guy waves for less than five minutes and he gets a ride...

    I said to my wife,

    "IF I had been flagging the cars, I'd have no chance!"

    And my wife said,

    "Hm... may be you got some chance coz you look like Japanese. But say... if an Indian guy... or a black guy tried to hitch a ride, they have no chance."
     
  10. Wow... thats a pretty amazing story, and you even got a picture.

    I'd love to do something like that, and i am white, so maybe i can. Im broke too. Sure would be nice to see all kinds of different things like that.
     
  11. All you need is a return ticket.

    The guy I met, he bought one way ticket. Think about that. That is just fucking CRAZY.

    You guys in USA MUST get a return ticket unless you're thinking about hitching a ride on a boat, but you can't do that...

    Or may be you could... you could be the first one to try?
     
  12. We can hitchhike too, but I wouldn't personally. I like control over where I'm going.

    Some states make it illegal to hitchhike on the Interstate highways. I know Washington does this.
     
  13. Lolz. So he DOESNT hitchhike back... I knew it.

    The Brosky:smoke:
     
  14. phuket fuck it fuck it
     
  15. Lol... yeah... the Americans call it 'Fuck it Island'.

    It's actually pronounced, POO-KET.
     
  16. may i ask what type of greeting a striking young spaniard would receive?

    i want to travel
     
  17. All this journey, when all he had to do was look around.

    :p
     

  18. lol, we're on the same page. guy sounds like a bum to me! more power to him though. i stopped giving hitchers rides some time ago. the last 2 times i did, they stunk up my car to the point of tears! it was horrible. the last time was a couple. she looked immaculate, and so did he. they were in the car less than 5 minutes and i wanted to kick them out! it was like that episode of seinfeld, where the car hop stunk jerry's car up so bad, he gave it to a guy to steal!!!
     

  19. Westerners, but only the ones with white skin, gets special treatment from the local Thais. Middle eastern, or Arab looking, no.

    If you are Spanish looking, depending on how white you are, you should get good treatment.

    But it's a double edged.

    You could get ripped off easily.
     

  20. I think you should do fine if u came to thailnd with a couple of hundred bucks and a return ticket. Oh, and u have to bring plenty of time as well.
     

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